Method and apparatus to improve reliability of vias

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device comprising a first insulating layer, a first metal conductor layer formed over the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer comprising a low-k insulating material formed over the first metal conductor, a second metal conductor layer formed over the second insulating layer, vias formed in the second insulating layer connecting the first metal conductor layer to the second metal conductor layer, and a plurality of metal lines. One of the metal lines is expanded around one of the vias compared to metal lines around other ones of the vias so that predetermined areas around each of the vias meets a minimum metal density.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

This disclosure relates generally to semiconductor processing, and more particularly, to improving reliability of vias.

2. Related Art

Integrated circuits are formed with metal layers stacked on top of one another and dielectric layers between the metal layers to insulate the metal layers from each other. Normally, each metal layer has an electrical contact to at least one other metal layer. Electrical contact can be formed by etching a hole (i.e., a via) in the interlayer dielectric that separates the metal layers, and filling the resulting via with a metal to create an interconnect. A “via” normally refers to any recessed feature such as a hole, line or other similar feature formed within a dielectric layer that, when filled with a conductive material, provides an electrical connection through the dielectric layer to a conductive layer underlying the dielectric layer.

With the number of transistors that are now present on integrated circuits, the number of vias can exceed a billion and there can be ten or more different conductive layers. Even if each via is highly reliable, there are so many vias that it is likely for there to be at least one via failure. Low-k BEOL (Back-End of Line) interlayer dielectrics commonly used in advanced technology integrated circuit manufacturing can have trapped moisture and hydroxyl ions. These trapped water species pose a risk of oxidizing via barrier material if not sufficiently out-gassed. Vias with oxidized tantalum barriers exhibit excessive via resistance that has been shown to cause timing delays in semiconductor devices. A barrier material is used to contain the migration of a copper used for a metal layer through the insulating material.

Barrier materials typically used today are a combination of tantalum and tantalum nitride, or just tantalum. Tantalum nitride has good adhesion properties to the oxide dielectric. However, other materials can be used. One problem which is specifically worse for tantalum is that tantalum oxidizes to form tantalum pentoxide and expands to a volume which is several times larger than just the tantalum. Also, the tantalum pentoxide is an insulator and has very high resistance.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a technique for improving the reliability of vias and uniformity of via resistance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and is not limited by the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process for determining where to add metal tiles around one or more vias to improve reliability of a semiconductor device.

FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of a partial layout of a semiconductor device during a first stage of design.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the semiconductor device of FIG. 2 during a subsequent stage of design.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the semiconductor device of FIG. 3 during a subsequent stage of design.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the semiconductor device of FIG. 4 during a subsequent stage of design.

FIG. 6 is a top view of an embodiment of a semiconductor device.

FIG. 7 is a cross-section view of the semiconductor device of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of methods and semiconductor devices are disclosed herein that improve reliability of vias and/or improve uniformity of via resistance by expanding and/or adding metal around the isolated vias to improve moisture dissipation during out-gassing processes. In one embodiment, vias located in zones which have a covering metal density of less than a predetermined density are identified, and metal features are expanded around these identified vias. This is better understood by reference to the following description and the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of process 100 for determining where to expand metal around one or more vias to improve reliability of a semiconductor device or integrated circuit. Process 102 includes generating a layout database for the semiconductor device that includes the type, size, location and interconnections between features or components such as metal layers, dielectric layers, and vias connecting the conductive layers in the semiconductor device. Any suitable type of integrated circuit design tool can be used in process 102. One example of a commercially available tool that can be used is the IC Station design system by Mentor Graphics, Inc. of Wilsonville, Oreg. An additional tool called Calibre by Mentor Graphics can be used to manipulate a database for an IC designed using IC Station.

With reference with FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of a partial layout of semiconductor device 200 at a first stage of design. Semiconductor device 200 includes a plurality of vias 202 a, 202 b, 202 c, 202 d, 202 e (collectively, “vias 202”), and metal lines 204 coupled to the vias 202. Metal lines 204 may be referred to as covering metal because they are located over vias 202. That is, vias 202 are coupled between covering metal, such as metal lines 204, and landing metal, located below vias 202. Note that the covering metal may correspond to the last metal layer of semiconductor device 200. Using the database generated in process 102, process 104 includes creating or determining zones 206 a, 206 b, 206 c (collectively, “zones 206”) around vias 202 within a predetermined distance around vias 202. Note that there may be a plurality of isolated vias 202 c in semiconductor device 200.

In the example shown, zone 206 a is a polygon shape around vias 202 a, 202 b; zone 206 b is a polygon shape around via 202 c; and zone 206 c is a polygon around vias 202 d, 202 e. Although zones 206 are shown as polygons, zones 206 can be any suitable shape.

Vias 202 are typically created with approximately the same shape, shown as a square in FIG. 2. In some implementations, zones 206 can be determined by upsizing the original size of vias 202 by a suitable distance. The particular upsize distance to determine zones 206 can be based on the size of the components of the semiconductor device 200. Semiconductor processing technology is often referred to based on the drawn transistor minimum gate length. For example, the term 90 nm technology refers to a silicon technology with a drawn transistor minimum gate length of 90-100 nm. As a further example, vias 202 in a 90 mm technology semiconductor device 200 can be 0.13 micron per side and the upsize distance can be 0.9 micron per side to form polygons that are 1.93 microns per side. Other suitable via sizes and shapes, and upsize distances for forming zones 206 can be used. Other techniques for creating zones 206 around vias 202 can also be used instead of temporarily upsizing vias 206.

Zones 206 that overlap or touch one another can be combined into one zone. For example, larger zones 206 a, 206 c were formed by combining individual zones (not shown) around respective vias 202 a/202 b and 202 d/202 e because the individual zones around vias 202 a/202 b and 202 d/202 e overlapped or touched one another.

Process 106 includes measuring or determining the density of covering metal in each zone 206. For example, for zone 206 a, the portion of metal line 204 within zone 206 a is used to determine the covering metal density. For zone 206 b, the portion of metal line 204 within zone 206 b is used to determine the covering metal density. For zone 206 c, the portions of metal lines 204 within zone 206 c is used to determine the covering metal density. Zones that have metal density greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold density are discarded, while zones that have metal density less than the predetermined threshold density are candidates for increased metal density. In one embodiment, the predetermined density threshold may be 80%, such that any zone 202 having a density less than 80% is selected. Alternatively, the predetermined density threshold may be 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, 15%, 10%, or 5%. In the embodiments herein, it will be assumed that the predetermined density threshold is 30% such that any zone 202 having a density of covering metal less than 30% is selected by process 108.

Referring back to FIG. 1, process 108 includes selecting zones which have a density less than the predetermined density threshold. Referring to FIG. 3, a top view of semiconductor device 200 of FIG. 2 is shown after a subsequent stage of design including process 108, in which zone 206 b is selected. In the illustrated example, zone 206 b has a covering metal density of less than 30% while each of zones 206 a and 206 b have a covering metal density of greater than 30%. Process 108 can also include showing selected and unselected vias 202 to the user of the design system via display device. In one embodiment, process 108 may highlight those zones which are selected. Selection of zone 206 b can be performed in logic instructions executed by a computer processor and therefore may not otherwise be visible to a user. Process 108 can also interactively allow a user to select and deselect vias manually, however, given the large number of vias that may be included in a semiconductor device, manual selection is generally not performed.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, FIG. 4 is a top view of semiconductor device 200 of FIG. 3 after a subsequent stage of design including process 110 in which zone 402 is created around via 202 c selected in process 108. In some implementations, selected via 202 c can be temporarily upsized based on the original via size to form zone 402. For example, in a 90 mm technology, a rectangular via 202 c that is 0.13 microns per side can be upsized by 0.9 microns per side to form zone 402 that is 1.93 microns per side.

Alternatively, zones 402 around each of selected isolated vias 202 can be defined to have a dimension no larger than an order of magnitude of a minimum metal feature size for the semiconductor device. In the semiconductor industry, the term minimum metal feature size refers to the smallest feature size allowed to be used by a designer.

Other suitable via sizes and shapes, and upsize distances for forming zone 402 in process 110 can be used. Additionally, other techniques for creating zones 402 around selected vias 202 c can also be used instead of temporarily upsizing vias 206.

Process 110 can further include presenting an image of zones 402 on semiconductor device 200 to the user of the design system via a display device. Process 110 can also interactively allow a user to add, delete, and/or resize zones 402 manually, if desired.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, FIG. 5 is a top view of semiconductor device 200 of FIG. 4 after a subsequent stage of design including process 112 in which metal is added around via 202 c to metal line 204 (FIG. 4) to form expanded metal line 502 in a dielectric layer above that in which selected isolated via(s) 202 c are formed and within zone 402 (FIG. 4). Oxygen sources within the layers of the semiconductor device 200 can cause delamination and high via resistance. The expanded metal line 502 allows out gassing of more oxygen source than would be possible without the increased or expanded metal. Further, since metal features are typically formed between dielectric layers to form interconnects with vias 202 between metal layers, no extra processing steps or time are required to increase expanded metal line 502.

Any suitable technique or criteria can be used to determine the size and shape of expanded metal line 502. For example, expanded metal line 502 may be configured to obtain metal coverage no less than ten percent of surface area within zone 402 (FIG. 4). The size and shape of expanded metal line 502 may be selected based on the minimum metal spacing requirements used to manufacture semiconductor device 200.

An example for 90 mm technology can include increasing a portion of metal line 204 around via 202 c in increments of 0.01 um with a minimum combined dimension of 0.14 um to form expanded metal line 502 around via 202 c. The expanded metal line 502 can be increased in accordance with the design rules governing the allowed spacing to other features in the design such as metal interconnects, tiles, and other restricted areas.

Process 112 can include adding metal 502 on a metal layer above selected vias 202 c and within zones 402 around selected vias 202 c. In some embodiments process 112 can include increasing metal density within a space 402 enclosed by the upsized selected vias 202 c. Expanding or increasing the metal density on a metal layer above selected vias 202 c and within space 402 enclosed by temporarily upsized selected vias 202 c can include defining the space 402 enclosed by the upsized selected vias 202 c as being no larger than an order of magnitude of a minimum metal feature size for semiconductor device 200.

For example, process 112 can include adding and incrementally increasing metal density to obtain a metal coverage of no less than twenty percent of surface area within the space 402 (FIG. 4) enclosed by the upsized selected vias 202 c. As a more specific example, process 112 can include selecting dimensions of expanded metal line 502 that are capable of fitting into an existing layout and to meet a density goal of greater than twenty percent in space 402 enclosed by temporarily upsized selected vias 202 c. Other suitable percentages for the density goal can be used, however.

Process 112 includes forming expanded metal line 502 to meet global and local metal density required for uniformity of semiconductor device processing such as photo lithography and chemical mechanical surface polishing. The expanded metal line 502 is formed in the dielectric at the same time and in a like manner as other metal features such as trenches. As an example, expanded metal line 502 is part of a circuit design trace needed to carry current or distribute voltages throughout semiconductor device 200.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, FIG. 6 is a top view of an embodiment of a portion of a semiconductor device 600 including lower dielectric layer 602, a plurality of vias 604, lower level metal lines 606, tiling features 608, and upper level expanded metal lines 502. FIG. 7 is a cross-section view of semiconductor device 600 of FIG. 6 that shows lower dielectric layer 602, a plurality of vias 604, lower level metal lines 606, tiling features 608 in dielectric layer 602, upper dielectric layer 702, etch stop layer 704, and anti-reflective layer 710. The portion of semiconductor device 600 may be built on an insulating layer formed on a semiconductor substrate (not shown). Expanded metal lines 502 are shown around vias 604 that were found to be isolated. Expanded metal lines 502 are formed as part of metal lines 606.

As an example, metal lines 502 and 606 may be formed of copper or other suitable conductive material. Etch stop layer 704 may be formed of silicon carbon nitride (SiCN) having a thickness ranging from 200-600 Angstroms. Dielectric layer 602 may be formed of SiCOH with a thickness ranging from 4000 to 6000 Angstroms. Dielectric layer 702 may be formed of tetra-ethoxy-silane (TEOS) having a thickness ranging from 700-1300 Angstroms. Anti-reflective layer 710 may be formed of silicon rich silicon nitride (SRN) having a thickness ranging from 400 to 700 Angstroms, or silicon rich silicon oxynitride (SRON) having a thickness ranging from 250 to 500 Angstroms. Other suitable thicknesses and materials may be used, however.

Interconnect delay is a major limiting factor in the effort to improve the speed and performance of integrated circuits (ICs). One way to minimize interconnect delay is to reduce interconnect capacitance by using low-k materials during production of the ICs. Such low-k materials have also proven useful for low temperature processing. Low-k materials have been developed to replace relatively high dielectric constant insulating materials, such as silicon dioxide. In particular, low-k films are being utilized for inter-level and intra-level dielectric layers between metal layers of semiconductor devices. Additionally, in order to further reduce the dielectric constant of insulating materials, material films are formed with pores, i.e., porous low-k materials.

Accordingly, dielectric layer 602 can, for example, contain SiCOH, which is a low-k dielectric material. Low-k dielectric materials have a nominal dielectric constant less than the dielectric constant of SiO2, which is approximately 4 (e.g., the dielectric constant for thermally grown silicon dioxide can range from 3.8 to 3.9). High-k materials have a nominal dielectric constant greater than the dielectric constant of SiO2. Low-k dielectric materials may have a dielectric constant of less than 3.7, or a dielectric constant ranging from 1.6 to 3.7. Low-k dielectric materials can include fluorinated silicon glass (FSG), carbon doped oxide, a polymer, a SiCOH-containing low-k material, a non-porous low-k material, a porous low-k material, a spin-on dielectric (SOD) low-k material, or any other suitable dielectric material.

Examples of two materials found suitable for low-k dielectrics are PECVD SiCOH dielectrics formed with either TMCTS (or OMCTS precursors). A precursor is a material which contains the SiCOH molecules in a larger carrier molecule which flows in a plasma chemical vapor deposition system for depositing the dielectric film. These films have many desirable characteristics but, as deposited, have residual OH (hydroxyl), and H2O (water) which require out-gassing. Out-gassing is a process during which semiconductor device 600 is heated at a specified temperature for a specified duration of time to allow the moisture in low-k dielectric layer 602 to dissipate.

Dielectric layer 702 may also provide a waterproof barrier that prevents moisture from seeping into as well as out of dielectric layer 602. If dielectric layer 702 is formed before substantially all of the moisture is outgassed from dielectric layer 602, residual oxygen sources could react with metal in vias 604 and lines 502, 606 to form oxides that causes delamination between metal lines 502, 606 and dielectric layers 602, 702, as well as create high via resistance. Areas with higher via density provide more exposed surface area of dielectric layer 602 through which moisture can evaporate. Moisture can be trapped in areas with low via density however. Accordingly, expanding the metal area/volume around isolated vias 604 allows greater dissipation of residual oxygen (e.g., OH (hydroxyl) and H2O (water)) in dielectric layer 602 during out-gassing process steps prior to metal forming steps as semiconductor device 600 is manufactured.

By now it should be appreciated that there has been provided a semiconductor device having improved via reliability. Therefore, by identifying zones around vias in which the density of the covering metal is less than a predetermined density threshold, metal can be expanded in these identified zones in order to increase the density of the covering metal. In this manner, moisture dissipation during out-gassing processes may be increased.

In some embodiments, a method for expanding metal lines for selected vias in a semiconductor device having a plurality of vias can include generating a layout database for the semiconductor device, creating zones around the plurality of vias, measuring density of covering metal in each zone, selecting a low density zone as being a zone that has a metal density less than a threshold metal density, and expanding at least one metal line on a metal layer above the plurality of vias in the low density zone so that metal density of the low density zone increases to at least the same as the threshold metal density.

In another aspect, identifying low density zones can further comprise creating the zones by upsizing the plurality of vias.

In another aspect, expanding the at least one metal line on the metal layer can further comprise the metal layer being an inlaid metal layer.

In another aspect, the creating zones can comprise upsizing the vias a predetermined amount based on an original size of the vias.

In another aspect, creating zones can comprise defining the zones to have a dimension no larger than an order of magnitude of twice the minimum metal feature size for the semiconductor device.

In another aspect, expanding the at least one metal line can further comprise expanding the at least one metal line to obtain a metal coverage of no less than 30 percent of surface area within the zone.

In another aspect, the method can be performed for interlevel dielectric layers of the semiconductor device comprising a low-k oxide.

In another aspect, creating the zones around the vias can further comprise upsizing the vias by 0.9 micron per side.

In another embodiment, a method for increasing metal density for selected vias in a semiconductor device having a plurality of vias can comprise generating a layout database for the semiconductor device, creating a plurality of zones by upsizing the plurality of vias, selecting zones of the plurality of zones that have less than a threshold metal density as being low density zones, and expanding at least one metal line in each of the low density zones.

In another aspect, creating the plurality of zones can further comprise defining the zones as being no larger than an order of magnitude of twice the minimum metal feature size for the semiconductor device.

In another aspect, expanding a metal layer within a space enclosed by each of the low density zones can achieve a target metal density of at least 10 percent within the space.

In another aspect, creating the plurality of zones can further comprise sizing the zones to be no greater than twelve times a minimum pitch between metal lines for the semiconductor device.

In another aspect, expanding the at least one metal line can further comprise expanding the at least one metal line to obtain a metal coverage of no less than five percent of surface area within the low density zones.

In another aspect, the method can be performed for interlevel dielectric layers of the semiconductor device comprising a low-k oxide.

In another embodiment, a semiconductor device can comprise a first insulating layer, a first metal conductor layer formed over the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer comprising a low-k insulating material formed over the first metal conductor, a second metal conductor layer formed over the second insulating layer vias formed in the second insulating layer connecting the first metal conductor layer to the second metal conductor layer, and a plurality of metal lines, one of the metal lines being expanded around one of the vias compared to metal lines around other ones of the vias so that predetermined areas around each of the vias meets a minimum metal density.

In another aspect, a low-k insulating material can be an insulating material having a relative permittivity of less than about 3.9.

In another aspect, moisture in the semiconductor device can be vented by the metal trenches during a heating step of the semiconductor device.

In another aspect, the plurality of metal lines can comprise a metal.

In another aspect, the predetermined areas can be no larger than an order of magnitude of twice the minimum metal feature size of the semiconductor device.

In another aspect, metal density within the predetermined areas can be greater than about five percent.

Process 100 can be performed by executing program logic instructions on a general purpose computer, such as a workstation coupled to a mainframe computer, and/or a desktop, laptop, tablet, or notebook computer. The term “program,” as used herein, is defined as a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system. A program, or computer program, may include a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the functionality of the above described processes and methods are merely illustrative. The functionality of multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, and/or the functionality of a single operation may be distributed in additional operations. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.

A computer system processes information according to a program and produces resultant output information via I/O devices. A program is a list of instructions such as a particular application program and/or an operating system. A computer program is typically stored internally on computer readable storage medium or transmitted to the computer system via a computer readable transmission medium. A computer process typically includes an executing (running) program or portion of a program, current program values and state information, and the resources used by the operating system to manage the execution of the process. A parent process may spawn other, child processes to help perform the overall functionality of the parent process. Because the parent process specifically spawns the child processes to perform a portion of the overall functionality of the parent process, the functions performed by child processes (and grandchild processes, etc.) may sometimes be described as being performed by the parent process.

Although the disclosure is described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims.

The term “coupled,” as used herein, is not intended to be limited to a direct coupling or a mechanical coupling.

Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to disclosures containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an.” The same holds true for the use of definite articles.

Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. 

1. A method for expanding metal lines for selected vias in a semiconductor device having a plurality of vias, the method comprising: generating a layout database for the semiconductor device; creating zones around the plurality of vias by upsizinq the plurality of vias; measuring density of covering metal in each zone; selecting a low density zone as being a zone that has a metal density less than a threshold metal density; and expanding at least one metal line on a metal layer above the plurality of vias in the low density zone so that metal density of the low density zone increases to at least the same as the threshold metal density, the at least one metal line is connected to at least one of the plurality of vias.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein expanding the at least one metal line on the metal layer, further comprises the metal layer being an inlaid metal layer.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating zones comprises upsizing the vias a predetermined amount based on an original size of the vias.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating zones comprises defining the zones to have a dimension no larger than an order of magnitude of twice a minimum metal feature size for the semiconductor device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein expanding the at least one metal line further comprises expanding the at least one metal line to obtain a metal coverage of no less than 30 percent of surface area within the zone.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed for interlevel dielectric layers of the semiconductor device comprising a low-k oxide.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the zones around the vias further comprises upsizing the vias by 0.9 micron per side.
 9. A method for increasing metal density for selected vias in a semiconductor device having a plurality of vias, the method comprising: generating a layout database for the semiconductor device; creating a plurality of zones by upsizing the plurality of vias; selecting zones of the plurality of zones that include at least one metal line and have less than a threshold metal density as being low density zones; and expanding the at least one metal line in each of the low density zones.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein creating the plurality of zones further comprises defining the zones as being no larger than an order of magnitude of twice the minimum metal feature size for the semiconductor device.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein expanding a metal layer within a space enclosed by each of the low density zones achieves a target metal density of at least 10 percent within the space.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein creating the plurality of zones further comprises sizing the zones to be no greater than twelve times a minimum pitch between metal lines for the semiconductor device.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein expanding the at least one metal line further comprises expanding the at least one metal line to obtain a metal coverage of no less than five percent of surface area within the low density zones.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the method is performed for interlevel dielectric layers of the semiconductor device comprising a low-k oxide. 15-20. (canceled) 